Good stuff, I've long been a Sparc fan.

@Tim_G said in Log Into Windows with a Biometric Ring:

@Dashrender said in Log Into Windows with a Biometric Ring:

So now you start stealing rings... lol

It's harder to steal a ring than credentials through phishing emails, as one example.

Quite a bit more 🙂 And easier to know when it has been stolen.

Now if the ring could read heart or other biometric and only work when on the right person's finger(s), even better.

So I just came off of using Plasma 5 for a few months. It's not bad. It's not as in your face about everything as 4 was. However, dual monitor support seemed a little flaky.

@Dashrender said in Introducing NHSBuntu, UK's Ubuntu for Healthcare:

@scottalanmiller
I agree, though I also agree with the others I don't think it will matter for them in the slightest.
They will simply abandon doing updates on these as well.

Very likely.

After monitoring this new outbreak for 24 hours, I came to the conclusion we were dealing with cyber warfare, and not ransomware. Two separate reports coming from Comae Technologies and Kaspersky Lab experts confirm this now.

NotPetya is a destructive disk wiper similar to Shamoon which has been targeting Saudi Arabia in the recent past. Note that Shamoon actually deleted files, NotPetya goes about it slightly different, it does not delete any data but simply makes it unusable by locking the files and then throwing away the key. The end result is the same.

Someone is hijacking known ransomware families and using them to attack Ukrainian computer systems. Guess who.

You never had a chance to recover your files. There are several technical indicators that NotPetya was only made to look as ransomware as a smoke screen:

It never bothers to generate a valid infection ID The Master File Table gets overwritten and is not recoverable The author of the original Petya also made it clear NotPetya was not his work

This has actually happened earlier. Foreshadowing the NotPetya attack, the author of the AES-NI ransomware said in May he did not create the XData ransomware, which was also used in targeted attacks against Ukraine. Furthermore, both XData and NotPetya used the same distribution vector, the update servers of a Ukrainian accounting software maker.

Catalin Cimpanu, the Security News Editor for Bleepingcomputer stated: "The consensus on NotPetya has shifted dramatically in the past 24 hours, and nobody would be wrong to say that NotPetya is on the same level with Stuxnet and BlackEnergy, two malware families used for political purposes and for their destructive effects. Evidence is clearly mounting that NotPetya is a cyber-weapon and not just some overly-aggressive ransomware."

Cybersecurity has moved from tech to a CEO and Board-level business issue

You did not sign up for this, but today it is abundantly clear that as an IT pro you are have just found yourself on the front line of 21-st century cyber war. Cybersecurity has moved from tech to a CEO and Board-level business issue. I strongly suggest you have another look at your defense-in-depth, and make sure to:

Have weapons-grade backups
Religiously patch
Step users through new-school security awareness training.

@scottalanmiller said in The British Navy Runs on Windows XP:

This "defence source" definitely goes against the claim that a new OS was just created for this: "A defence source told the newspaper that some of the on-boar hardware and software "would have been good in 2004" when the carrier was designed, "but now seems rather antiquated"."

Indeed. But with most things, its outdated as soon as you ordered the kit. Probably spinning disks, rather than SSDs - gets hit by a wave in the wrong place and the head on for a few platters move... warship dead! But hey, they are cheaper - just like a particular type of cladding.

@Tim_G said in Ars Technica Less Than Impressed with Surface Pro Serviceability:

@coliver said in Ars Technica Less Than Impressed with Surface Pro Serviceability:

@scottalanmiller said in Ars Technica Less Than Impressed with Surface Pro Serviceability:

@Minion-Queen said in Ars Technica Less Than Impressed with Surface Pro Serviceability:

@Tim_G said in Ars Technica Less Than Impressed with Surface Pro Serviceability:

@mlnews

These things, like the iPad stuff, aren't built for serviceability. You buy it with what you want. And if the SSD goes out, you don't replace it. They deal with that. If you need more RAM, then you should have bought one with more RAM, or a different system altogether.

How often do you want to replace the SSD in your phone or iPad?

The issue here (I use both SurfacePro and iPads) that the Surface DOES go bad and quickly. I have an iPad that is now over 4 years old and have no issues with it other than I need to clean apps etc. off of it from time to time cause I filled it up.

Surface's on the other hand we see as much as a 50% fail rate after one year!

And a fair number DOA!

I would say ~10% of ours are DOA. It's crazy.

That's actually horrible.

That's what we see as well.

@Breffni-Potter said in EU slaps Google with record $2.7 billion fine:

@scottalanmiller said in EU slaps Google with record $2.7 billion fine:

@Breffni-Potter said in EU slaps Google with record $2.7 billion fine:

Does anyone remember that pointlessly annoying "browser choice" thing the EU forced on Microsoft? Every time you installed a new OS, you got this app that ran asking you to "choose" a browser from a list. Fiddly to get rid of.

They forced in on the EU. Most of the US doesn't see that, did they. Go to the EU and immediately you realize how much you don't see it here.

Sorry what?

Oh, forgot you were in London, not NYC. Same thing, different accent.

It is, it's good for the US but for the world, too. This could completely change Internet access across the globe.

@EddieJennings said in PowerPoint Hovering Attack:

@mlnews Looks like the tl;dr is don't enable content unless you're 100% sure of the source.

Or download it. Or open it....

@EddieJennings said in Cortana Being Moved from Taskbar to System Tray:

I've never had much use for Cortana, other than practicing my disable-and-remove-useless-programs skill.

Yea,.. about the same here. I only rarely use SIRI - no plans for Alexa,.. so Cortana is a waste. It's a resource I want for other tasks... so out it goes...

@scottalanmiller said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:

@Dashrender said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:

@coliver said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:

@DustinB3403 said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:

@coliver said in Why Linux is Hard for Windows Users but Easy for Newbies:

I've never had a great experience with it.

It always tries to search online first for things that I know are on my local system. It irks me too. Like if I'm searching for Putty, it brings up an advert for it, rather than the local application!

Others have said that as well. I haven't had that experience.

I've had both experiences. Though lately it's worked as desired - local first, then online.

that's what's weird, I've had both too... side by side on machines installed the same way!

yep - I use Clonezilla to deploy machines - it's weird that they act differently.